Productions

Music by LISA WHITSON BURNSWords by CHRISTOPHER STASKELDirected by JESCA PRUDENCIOChoreographed by FRANKLIN BAREFOOT

2015 - Musical Theatre Factory presents excerpts with the Chelsea Syphony as part of New Orchestrations. 2015 - People Of Interest presents a 29 hour Reading2014 - Dance Workshop presented at NYU2013 - Developed at NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Presented as a Workshop Presentation with the Collaborative Development Project

Based on real events, The Firebird is the story of 34-year-old Paige Maynard who, against her mother Annette’s wishes, adopts a nine-year-old Russian boy named Kodiak, a social orphan taken away from his alcoholic mother at the age of four. As Paige struggles to be a good mother and Kodiak struggles to adapt to his new home, Annette outwardly resents the boy’s intrusion upon her close, near-exclusive relationship with her daughter. When Kodiak’s increasingly violent behavior becomes unmanageable, Annette convinces Paige to send the boy back to Russia with a one-way ticket, alone.The events of the story are presented through Paige and Kodiak’s alternating dreams, which are heavily influenced by “The Firebird,” a Russian fairy tale they would read together before bedtime. True to life, the language of each dream is specific to the dreamer. Paige’s dreams are more realistic, and contain structured songs and spoken dialogue, while Kodiak’s are painted with broader strokes, brought to life through narrative modern dance and choral singing.The Firebird is about two broken individuals struggling to forge a connection with one another. Though they come from separate cultures and speak different languages, both Paige and Kodiak are fighting to overcome the near-paralyzing psychological damage wrought by their mothers and to find hope and love in a new mother-child relationship.

For more music samples, please visit http://www.christopherstaskel.com/the-firebird